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Bird - Lore 



twigs, while she carried horse-hair, grass- 

 blades and rootlets. Jimmy sang gaily 

 from daylight till darkness. His favorite 

 perch was the topmost peak of the light- 

 ning-rod. Soon four hungry baby Wrens 

 hatched out of the six speckled eggs, and 

 then work began in earnest in our gardens, 

 the parent birds cleaning out every bug 

 and worm, sometimes peering under the 

 cucumber leaves for striped beetles, next 

 taking a rag-carpet worm from the parsley 

 or carrots, then a slug from the rosebush, 

 or a young grasshopper, with occasionally 

 a daddy-long-legs for variety. One morn- 

 ing we discovered a colony of brown larvae 

 devouring the sweet pea vines. Then 

 Elinor noticed the Wrens constantly 

 making trips from the pea vines to the 

 Wren house with their beaks full of wrig- 

 gling brown worms. By night there was 

 not a worm to be found. One day a pair 

 of wicked House Sparrows decided to kill 

 the Wrens and confiscate their home. 

 The brave little birds fought desperately, 

 but they were not a match for their big 

 antagonists. Jenny's tail was completely 

 pulled out in the battle, and Jimmy so 

 bady hurt that he disappeared for several 

 days. Then poor little Jenny was left 

 alone to feed them all, and perhaps carried 

 food to Jimmy too. She never seemed to 

 rest or eat, but constantly carried worms 

 to the never-satisfied babies. 



Something desperate had to be done, 

 or the faithful mother would be killed and 

 her little family left to starve. So Elinor 

 stood guard with a broom, while I hunted 

 the village for a boy with a rifle. While 

 the Sparrows were being shot, Jenny con- 

 tinued her trips, darting in and out, and 

 seemed to realize fully that it was being 

 done for her protection. 



Two days later Jimmy appeared with a 

 worm, but for some time was too weak to 

 make the flight to the box. In due time 

 four cute little birds peeped out of the 

 doorway, and one by one sailed out into 

 the big world. 



For a month they remained in our 

 gardens, a happy little family, and called 

 to me as I worked among the vegetables 

 and flowers. But one day, alas ! they all 



soared away to sunnier skies. Next spring 

 there will be two homes waiting under the 

 eaves for our little friends. 



There is nothing so valuable to a gar- 

 dener, for they live entirely on worms and 

 insects, and love the companionship of 

 man. — Mrs. Lena Waite, Rochester, Wis. 



A Record Bird Census 



For comparison with Mr. Gilbert H. 

 Grosvenor's article in Bird-Lore for 

 April, 1916, I append the results of a 

 census made in 1904 on my father's place 

 in Nottinghamshire, England. 



He is a keen naturalist and has made 

 his estates a sanctuary for birds for many 

 years; not even the much-abused House 

 Sparrow is molested — and there are a 

 great number of them there at all times. 

 There is a lake close to the house which is 

 frequented by several species of water- 

 fowl; on the other side of the house is a 

 lawn on which grow several large beech 

 trees, and again near the house are shrub- 

 beries of laurel, rhododendron, and other 

 ornamental shrubs. The house is covered 

 with ivy, jasmine, roses, etc., so you see 

 there is a variety of nesting-sites for 

 different species. He has boxes for the 

 different birds in every suitable place; 

 there being no less than 76 Starling boxes 

 alone in the beech trees. 



We had a naturalist friend with us on 

 a visit. She was greatly struck by the 

 number of birds about the house, and 

 asked if we had any idea how many pairs 

 were nesting in the immediate vicinity. 

 We really had no idea, and, our curiosity 

 being aroused, determined to take a 

 census of the bird population on an acre 

 with the house as a central point. This 

 acre took in the beech trees, part of the 

 pond with one island, a block of shrubs, 

 and a corner of the kitchen garden. On this 

 block were found the following birds nest- 

 ing; the ones using artificial boxes I have 

 marked with an asterisk (*). pairs 



*Starling 74 



*Stock Dove 2 



Turtle Dove i 



Wood Pigeon i 



